Protect Your Patients, Protect Your Practice: Practical Risk Assessment in the Structuring of Opioid Therapy in Chronic Pain

Primary care clinicians play a crucial role in the assessment and management of chronic pain. As many as one-third of primary care patients report having chronic pain. As a result, primary care clinicians are expected to have skills in a broad array of analgesic strategies, including analgesic pharmacotherapy. Ideally, drug treatments for pain are combined with nonpharmacologic strategies, including specific psychological and rehabilitative approaches that also may enhance comfort and promote functional restoration.